What is a "system restore point"?

Question

Had to get a new machine but unfortunately I couldn't install Windows98SE (my system of preference) on it and had to settle for WindowsXP. XP keeps asking for the address of the "system restore point" - what exactly is it and what does it mean?

Answer 1

Restore is a feature in XP that lets you go to an earlier state of your computer.

Say you download a progeram, but it messes up your computer, you can go into windows safe mode, then go to system restore, and go to an earlier point, or you can go to an newer computer state.

I dont know what the address of a system restore point is, sorry

Answer 2

a system restore point is a point when you computer is working just fine, the computer will periodically create restore points daily to ensure your computer will work properly. For instance, if you load some software that had some spyware attached to it and it effects your computer, you can use system restore to restore you computer to when it was working fine